The following case demonstrates how KFC revolutionized ordering food online. With just a few tweaks to the website’s code and zero production costs, KFC created an unprecedented way of ordering fried chicken online. The KFC cheat code demonstrates that successful media strategies don’t necessarily need to have a lot of money behind them and how creativity and innovation can go a long way.

KFC has long been dabbling in gaming. From launching dedicated KFC gaming accounts, to creating a popular Japanese-inspired dating game featuring Colonel Sanders, and even designing a chicken-heating console!

While the above advancements in gaming proved successful, these were just entry points that helped establish KFC as a brand that appeals to gamers. KFC was now synonymous with gaming. Great… but what about selling chicken to gamers?

KFC was yet to generate conversion with gamers. 350 million MENA gamers to be precise. A gold mine of sales for KFC if it were to resonate with them.

Knowing that they were scotched to their favorite games 24/7, KFC had to find an innovative idea that would help them generate more sales from gamers without interrupting their precious gaming time.

THE CHALLENGE: How do you sell chicken to a target audience that doesn’t even have time to check out an online menu?

To answer this challenge, KFC tried to understand how to get MENA gamers to buy chicken from KFC. Was this about setting up an in-game pop-up shop in Fortnite? Was it about invading Twitch streams with witty comments directing gamers to our website? Or maybe it was about inserting in-game redeemable coupons for finger-lickin’ good chicken?

After testing some of these ideas with MENA gamers, KFC discovered that gamers did not want their favorite games to be invaded by brands.

This made KFC’s challenge tougher. It was almost as tough as beating a game on “Hard” mode. Only mighty gamers were able to do so without cheat codes. And that when it all clicked. It was not about being present in-game, it was all about creating a real-life cheat code that would give gamers even more gaming time.

CREATIVE IDEA: A real-life cheat code to order finger-lickin’ good fried chicken.

Gamers are a particular bunch. While they like to try many games, they are loyal to one. They often dedicate all of their time to that one game. If KFC were to get into a certain game, it would be alienating the players who play other games. This was not something KFC wanted to do as it wanted to leverage the big number of MENA gamers and appeal to all of them.

And while there are many game preferences for MENA gamers, all gamers shared one thing in common: They spend so much time gaming that they forget to eat food. And to get them to eat, KFC has to do so in a quick and efficient way that would allow them more time for their favorite games.

STRATEGY: Stay away from their games and find a way to get them to eat without compromising their gaming time.

Knowing how valuable gaming time is to them, KFC thought of the coolest and fastest way to order. A way that they were familiar with. While combinations of different keys can trigger a certain cheat code, there was no cheat code to getting fried chicken to your door. That’s when we found the solution in our name itself.

Introducing: The KFC cheat code. The first-ever shortcut created for a brand.

KFC only needed to tweak its website's code. It was pure programming and zero production costs.

Registered users have their address, credit card, and favorite meal saved. By using IP recognition, every time users typed in the short Shift + K + F + C, an order with their registered favorite meal would be automatically placed.

Because KFC knew that this feature would be most relevant to gamers, it promoted the KFC shortcut on Twitch using top MENA gamers.

Launched in 7 countries in the Middle East

$0 production cost

20 million social impressions

1.7 million reach

Engagement 350,000

+19% increase online order of bundle combo

93% of those from the gaming community